


Babysat

by sage_theory (papersage)



Category: Eureka
Genre: Gen, Vignette, birthday fic, genfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-12
Updated: 2010-09-12
Packaged: 2017-10-11 16:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/114566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/papersage/pseuds/sage_theory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kevin's now the man of the house, and that's starting to mean a lot of different things. Slice of life vignette.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Babysat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tptigger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/gifts).



> Dedication: To Tigger, on her birthday. For all the years of watching me and the other youngsters on TPFICT/TPDIS grow up and occasionally confiscating purple stun guns for the good of us all (*grumble grumble*), for reading what can only have been years of bad fic by me and being a very kind beta, and mostly, for being an awesome friend and a Tiggerific human being that I'm lucky to know.

"You have all my numbers, right? And Carter's? And Jo's? And Henry's? I don't want you to be afraid to call for help if you need it."

From the couch, with his baby sister in his lap who's experimenting with the taste of a Pooh Bear's fuzzy ear, Kevin asks, "What's the number for 911 again?"

Mom has to roll her eyes and smile at that, and realize that she's completely overreacting. Kevin has totally babysat before for Jenna, and he's reminded her of that and she's reminded him that it was only for a short while, when she's gone grocery shopping or out on errands, never for an entire day.

"Sweetie, I know you're responsible, I just want to make sure that you have everything you need."

Kevin looks at the worse for the wear Winnie the Pooh and then sniffs. He quickly picks Jenna up and she gurgles, then giggles. Like she's completely gotten the last laugh in this conversation because she's a fraction of his size and she can still make him get off the couch really quickly. He says, "New jeans would be nice." He crinkles his nose, holding her giggling form at arm's length, headed for the nursery. "Geez, mom, what do you feed her?"

Mom laughs at him and tugs at the pearl earring on her right lobe. She's nervous about today's conference thingy (Kevin wishes now he'd paid slightly more attention to it and less time wondering if he could get her permission for that boy-girl sleepover at Tina's house, which turned out to be kinda stupid). Maybe he shouldn't give her such a hard time, but she's been a little TOO motherly lately, like she's realized he's growing up and she's got to get all her parenting in before he's too old to be grounded or something.

His friends at school assure him that all parents are weird, even by Eureka's standards, but he isn't sure. His mom's a little different now, it's like something happened. Something that must have scared her a lot. He doesn't let on that this scares him a lot, especially since Nathan's gone and there's just him now. People say man of the house like it's funny or quaint, but it's not. It's not quaint when you see your mom worried so much, when you realize there's nobody there to help her, that if you don't pitch in, she's out of luck.

Nathan being gone made him realize how easy it would be for everything just to get screwed up, how you can think you've got it in the bag, but you don't. You think you're gonna get married and be this big happy family and then you're not, you're being disintegrated into shiny dust to save the world from the worst version of Groundhog Day ever. (Carter had to explain that and who Bill Murray was, but it lead to a post-funeral movie marathon that took his mind off things for a while).

So if something has scared her into being extra-momtastic, it's got to be something big. Something world changing because she works at GD and he's seen her face killer viruses and homicidal AI's and she wasn't scared. Well, not for herself anyway. It worries him to see her rattled and it worries him he might not be able to help, that he might become another burden. He's worried about that a lot since Jenna was born. Because it was annoying to get woken up in the middle of the night by a crying baby, but he wondered how she could deal with having to get up and put her back to sleep and still be his mom. He didn't think he'd be able to do it. And all he could think that maybe she got through it because at least he was old enough to take of himself basically and not be a problem. He thinks that if he wasn't, mom might literally collapse. If he were sick or a little kid himself, what would she do? Who'd watch Jenna just so she can go to the store, or take a bath? How would she go to conferences when Henry and Carter and Jo and Zoe and even _Dr. Fargo_ are all busy and it's Saturday?

Because, as he holds Jenna's tiny little body close, her head over his shoulder, drooling sleepily with a fresh diaper and new shorts on, he wants to be a help. Not a burden. He kisses the top of her head, where her dark hair turns a little curly in the back. He wonders what she'll look like when she's his age. By, then, he really will be her big brother, and that's kind of weird. He'll be a complete adult and she'll still be a kid. When he graduates, she'll just be starting kindergarden. He remembers when she was first born and she was so small he was kind of amazed that she counted as a human being because she was this little compact thing that curled up in her crib and she had teddy bears bigger than her. The Winnie the Pooh stuffed bear could've taken her in a fight, that's how tiny she was.

Now she's less tiny, but still small. And he's not. That's also weird. Because this is the first time he can remember not being the youngest, the kid, the one in the room who was smaller than everyone else.

He looks up to see mom doing that smiling-from-a-hundred-miles-away thing from the doorway. She looks really pretty that way. He wonders which one of them should be taking the picture, but he thinks it should be her because he kinda thinks something is sad about her smile and if he took a snap shot, she might look she was crying and smiling at the same time.

Something must have really messed her up, because he doesn't remember things being like that even after Nathan, even after Jenna was born. This is very, very recent. Or maybe he's older now and he sees it when he didn't used to, when he was just a kid and he sort of thought adults were this whole other species of alien - well, they kind of still are. He wishes she'd tell him what, so at least he can quit guessing at it. And he really hopes that women are not gonna be this complicated when he gets older, because that whole thing in the woods with Carter and Dr. Grant was intense enough.

"I'll take good care of her mom, I promise," he says, all seriousness, no bull. Even though he sort of wants to make a crack about how he promises his wild party won't wake the baby or he promises her little toddler tattoo will be tasteful or something, but he doesn't.

All in all, being responsible is less fun than you'd think.

"I know," she says and turns from the door. He follows her to the kitchen, still holding Jenna on his shoulder, bouncing her a little because he knows she likes that. She gathers her brief case and her folders for the all day conference thing. It must suck to go to work on a Saturday. He knows that even though he likes school, he doesn't want to be there on Saturdays.

She kisses him, kisses Jenna, rubs her tiny head affectionately.

"I'll call you around noon just to check in."

"Mooooooommmmmm."

"Just a check in. I'd check in even if it was Henry."

He laughs. "Especially if it was Henry. He's never had kids."

"Good point. Thank you for doing this for me. You're really getting to be so grown up."

"Does being a grownup mean people trust you not to be an idiot, mom?" he asks.

She gets a sly look on her face. "Sometimes. Doesn't mean you don't feel like one sometimes."

"You're gonna be late, you know."

She sighs and heads out the door. He stands there, still holding Jenna.

"Okay, look little sister, I know everyone has to grow up, but try not to do it too fast, all right?" he asks her. "Big brother can only keep up with so much."

Her response is a little baby snore and he pats her back. And he lays her down on her blanket on the floor with her Winnie the Pooh right there beside her (what mom doesn't know is that she actually prefers Tigger) and searches for the hidden Twinkies, Doritos, and Mountain Dew that he squirreled away just for this occasion. Mom would NEVER let him eat them all at the same time, but what mom doesn't know doesn't get Kevin in trouble.

He grins and flips on the TV and the XBox, but keeps the volume turned way, way down because Jenna is sleeping. The sounds of blasters going off in the background doesn't seem to wake her.

"When you're old enough, I'll teach you all about Halo and why it's awesome," he says and then proceeds to unwrap his first Twinkie. "When you're old enough."

 

\- END -


End file.
